A new Ontario study, published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behaviour, has looked into the behavior of significant others when their partners were on diets and made some disturbing findings.

The study involved interviews with 21 pairs. Most were spousal couples, but one was a father-daughter combo. The research was an attempt to shed light on how a partner’s dieting affected the non-dieting partner’s emotions and diet.continue »

In 2004, the skin-care and beauty products giant Unilever broke with marketing convention and launched an ad campaign for its Dove brand using “real” women – some of them decidedly overweight – as models.

At the time, observers applauded the company for putting its advertising muscle behind positive body image messaging, but the consensus seemed to be that it would soon revert back to its old ways. continue »